First I would like to apologise for my absence lately. Work and school have been keeping me busy so I had little time to devote to steem - not even the one post a week I was aiming for :(
Last weekend (8/12/18) @elear let us know he'll be coming to Israel for a week of meetings. We naturally offered him our spare room to stay in.
I was happy to hear he'll be coming to visit since I didn't really get to talk to him at steemfest and I thought that his visit will be like a small steemfest at our apartment with @techslut, myself, @apshamilton and @elear as well as @didic together talking and having fun.
That mental image turned out to be slightly unrealistic.
@elear didn't really have a solid plan when he arrived on Sunday night but @techslut and @apshamilton quickly filled the week with meetings. There were meetings with lawyers, angels, investors and other business type people. They had anywhere between 3 to 6 meetings a day, most of them in the Tel Aviv area. And after the meetings they would have talks and calls.
I ended up seeing @techslut even less than I do on a usual week. It was very intense and I hope that those meetings would have a good impact on Utopian. It is definitely a new phase in the company, moving it slowly more and more into the 'Real World'.
There were no meetings on Friday and Saturday so I hoped to get some fun time with @techslut and @elear. We thought of taking him to see Jaffa and maybe Nazareth. @apshamilton invited us to Shabbat dinner (Kabbalat Shabbat) on friday night. Remember, this was @elear's first ever visit to Israel and so far all he got to see was the inside of meeting rooms.
On Friday @techslut developed a terrible tummy ache so it was up to me to entertain @elear.
After a leisurely breakfast (around noon) we headed over to an alcohol boutique nearby to pick up a nice bottle of red wine for dinner. We then headed out to see a bit of Jaffa.
Jaffa is an old port town a little south of Tel Aviv. It is populated by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The old town is very picturesque and attracts a lot of tourists.
We got there around 4 PM and I was hoping we'll be able to catch the sunset into the harbor.
Here are a few pictures I took from our walk.
This is a view of the Tel Aviv coastline. Since Jaffa is at the 'bottom' of the city we get a good view of the entire coastline to the north.
This is a closeup of the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv. When I was a kid only the rightmost building was built and they had a tour to go all the way to the top of it’s 40’th floor. Now there are numerous skyscrapers in the city and more are being built constantly.
This is the bell tower of St. Peter's Church in Kikar Kedumim in Jaffa.
There is a small fountain next to the Church . It’s a really nice place and we actually saw a couple taking their wedding pictures there.
We missed the actual sunset unfortunately but we did get to see the remaining orange light painting the sky on the tail end of dusk.
Jaffa is a mixed city so there were signs of the coming holiday everywhere. Here’s the big tree placed next to the famous Jaffa Clock Tower.
After that it was getting a bit late (@elear had a call at 6 PM) so we headed back home.
@techslut was still feeling poorly so she stayed home and @elear and I went to visit @apshamilton for Shabbat dinner. It was nice to see @apshamilton again (I haven't met him since steemfest) and to meet his charming wife and daughter.
Dinner was lovely and the conversation covered many diverse topics, from Judaism to history and from global economy to the mindset of investors.
On Saturday @techslut was feeling better but she and @elear decided to work some more (those two are workaholics I tell you) so I sat down to do my homework and we postponed the Nazareth visit for the next time @elear will come over.
There will definitely be a next time. Hopefully better planned but with no less meetings and getting things done.
A few hours before he had to get to the airport we took @elear to a nice Japanese restaurant, Yamatoya and we had a lovely parting dinner.
@techslut and I accompanied @elear to the airport since on his way over he was held for a prolonged questioning by security and we were hoping to avoid that.
We didn’t avoid it. @techslut took it upon herself to answer the security questions but it was still half an hour of very intense questioning. At least we learned what forms we need to submit to, hopefully, spare @elear this kind of treatment in the future.
So that was the past week - a hectic marathon of meetings, calls and discussions that will hopefully help raise Utopian into the big league of real-world businesses.
On a more personal note, I just got a job offer as a designer for a small startup company. It would mean going back to freelance work from home for a larger pay than what I’m currently making.
I said yes but I’m still waiting to get the written confirmation before I let my employer know that I’ll be starting on a new path come February.
I’m a little anxious and apprehensive but also excited. My design skills are a bit rusted (I’ve been mostly programming for the past few years) but I still believe I can do this well. It also means I’ll have more time to invest in my schoolwork.
I hope it means bigger and better things for the future.
I’ll try to write another post soon to keep you updated.